Posted on 02/25/2004 7:22:34 AM PST by Hillary's Lovely Legs
Los Angeles police shot and killed a robbery suspect on live TV at the end of a 90-minute car chase early Monday, firing into a rear windshield as the driver slowly backed his car toward officers in front of Santa Monica High School.
Nicholas Hans Killinger, 23, of Malibu died an hour after three Los Angeles police officers, "fearing for their lives," fired into the back window of his Ford Tempo, said Lt. Art Miller.
"The suspect could have ended this situation at any time," said Miller. "But instead he chose to reverse his car into the officers." The officers, not yet identified, are from the Hollywood and Rampart divisions.
Killinger's family, including some who saw the 5:54 a.m. shooting on TV as it happened, questioned the deadly police response. Five local TV stations aired the chase and shooting.
"Why did they have to shoot him so many times?" asked Emma Jean Killinger, the man's aunt. Killinger lived with her family in Malibu for the last three or four months, she said.
"I was shocked," she said, "because he was supposed to come home last night."
Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton pledged that his investigators will review the shooting "with a fine-tooth comb" to determine whether it conformed to department guidelines. Police can use deadly force to protect themselves or others "from immediate threat of death or serious bodily harm."
Bratton has been seeking to restrict the LAPD's deadly force guidelines that now allow officers to shoot at vehicles that pose a threat. Other departments have banned the practice, citing the danger to innocent bystanders.
LAPD policy states that shooting "at or from a moving vehicle is generally prohibited," except as a last resort.
"We are going to modify the existing policy," Bratton said. Any such change of policy requires Police Commission approval.
The Los Angeles district attorney's office and the Santa Monica Police Department are investigating the incident, which began at an Agoura Hills gas station about 4:30 a.m.
Killinger, armed with a knife, is suspected of tying up the gas station attendant and stealing $180 from the register, authorities said. Killinger was convicted in 2003 for assault with a deadly weapon, court records show.
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were alerted, and they spotted Killinger driving east on the Ventura Freeway through Sherman Oaks.
The chase was taken over by the California Highway Patrol. When Killinger left the freeway in Hollywood, LAPD officers took over the pursuit.
For more than an hour, Killinger sped through side streets and drove on the wrong side of the road.
"Along the way he threw out the money," Miller said. At one point, the pursuit raced through the pedestrian portion of Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade.
Killinger was driving east on Pico Boulevard, then tried to make a U-turn on 6th Street, according to the videotaped broadcast. He could not complete the U-turn and began rolling backward, toward two LAPD patrol cars that had stopped behind him.
Three officers stood alongside their patrol cars and fired about 11 rounds into the rear window of Killinger's car as it began moving in reverse.
Killinger's car bumped the front of one patrol car and the driver's side door flung open. Bullets could be seen hitting the car near the opening. Killinger fell face down out of the driver's side door.
Lt. Miller said the officers told investigators they were in fear for their lives and they believed the suspect was a danger to the public.
Monday's shooting revisited a long-standing debate on the live broadcast of police pursuits. In April 1998, local TV stations drew criticism for broadcasting a man as he shot himself on a Century Freeway overpass.
KTLA Channel 5 news director Jeff Wald said the station now has a policy of switching to a wide angle shot if the helicopter pilots anticipate a pursuit is about to end. The station broadcast Monday's shooting because "I'm sure they didn't know what was going on at the time."
KABC-TV's news helicopter was hovering above the passenger side of the suspect's vehicle and puffs of smoke could be seen as officers fired their weapons. When the suspect was hit, their camera began zooming out.
"The minute the suspect started to put himself in an aggressive position, our chopper pilot told his cameraman to pull out," said KABC news director Cheryl Fair. "We're very conscious of the potential and try as best we can to handle this situation in a sensitive fashion. But it is live television."
KNBC-TV news director Bob Long said his station will not replay the shooting again and will only display a still picture. "There's no reason to show it," Long said.
If the perp had been a minority, we'd probably be seeing it replayed on TV incessantly and have rioting in the streets.
From my point of view the car backing up didn't pose any threat. However, the perp did pose a threat by trying to evade the cops for 90 minutes, driving the wrong direction, and driving thru a pedestrian walkway. As a result, he needed to be stopped. I don't know if excessive force was used, but I do know that the perp found out that crime doesn't pay.
It's obvious you've never had a job on the streets - as a law officer, EMT rescue, fireman, etc. Perhaps you should for your own education and service to your community.
Get over the term "slowly." If someone is trying to get a better shot, does it matter that they are moving their gun "slowly" over the target? No, it is the action that counts.
When a car driven by a suspect/perp moves after being told to stop, turn off the engine (there is a BIG reason for that command), and hold up their hands - EVERYONE in the area is in IMMEDIATE danger. It doesn't matter at what rate the suspect is moving the car - that the car is moving is the danger. Usually when a suspect begins to "slowly" move the car - they are doing two things.
One - they are beginning to really panic or have gone into the "zone" of where nothing matters anymore and it is time to take someone with them. Two - they are lining up the car for a better shot.
Either case is extremely dangerous and about to become worse in a hurry.
That better shot may mean a better way to run back into the streets to put someone else in danger but more often than not, the moving car usually means a suspect/perp has hit a point of uncontrolled violence. That slow moving car is going to head toward someone and could get real fast, in a big hurry. Someone is about to die. 2. Do you think a citizen, who saw a car roll SLOWLY toward toward him, could shoot to kill the driver and expect to be cleared of wrongdoing, because a slowly moving car is a deadly threat that merits deadly force? I don't.
It depends. Is that citizen able to get away and is the driver of the car slowly turning to get a bead on him before accelerating. The circumstances would decide. There have been cases of assault with a deadly weapon - a vehicle - in citizen cases.
But you are overlooking major differences.
A police officer's life is regularly assaulted as part of his job. The threat is higher than for the regular citizen. Thus, his latitude for reaction must be higher. No one is going to try to kill you today. But when a cop walks out the door in the morning, he knows someone is going to try.
Secondly, the area of responsibility is different. A citizen has only his own life to protect. A cop has his own life, his partner, the rest of the officers on scene, the people in the neighborhood, and the rest of the community should a violent suspect continue his crimes. In a situation such as the article describes, the scene and the suspect must be brought into immediate control - or there is an immediate threat to everybody in the area. Because the threat is not just to himself, but to the entire community, the officer again must have a wider latitude or reaction.
A car can accelerate very quickly. If a fleeing suspect has been told to stop, switch off the engine, and get out of the car, and he doesn't, then starts backing towards the cops - they can't wait to see if he's intending to hit the gas and run over them, because if he did, they'd be dead.
I had a friend who had both her legs and her pelvis fractured by a VERY slow speed collision in a high school parking lot. (Somebody backed out of a parking space without looking.) The sound of the broken bones grinding together as she tried to stand up is something I will NEVER forget.
Yea, but he was out workin' w/o a permit.
Thank you - that's an important point to remember. Plus if the suspect follows the commands and shuts off the engine, and gets his hands up, nothing happens. No bullets fired. Nobody gets hurt.
I had a friend who had both her legs and her pelvis fractured by a VERY slow speed collision in a high school parking lot. (Somebody backed out of a parking space without looking.) The sound of the broken bones grinding together as she tried to stand up is something I will NEVER forget.
Yep, been there - done that. I was one of guys that had to get her on the backboard, stabilize her, run a line if necessary, and get to the ER in a hurry. Many people don't realize how much force is involved in a "slow" car. But now, I wait in the ER for the patient to come to me - less messy. :-)
There's still a bad moment when the one brought in is a cop. It's a shared moment of one of the team going down.
Why didn't they just shot him once in the right leg so he couldn't work the accelerator or better still, shoot the steering wheel off the car.
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